Roller bearing, especially for the bearing of the star pin of a universal joint

ABSTRACT

Roller bearing for a bearing system of journal pins in universal joints having a pot-shaped solid bushing as an outer support for the rollers of the bearing includes a sheet-metal sleeve pressfitted in the solid bushing, the sleeve forming at the inner surface thereof an outer race for the rollers, the sleeve having ends formed as guiding rims for the rollers.

0 United States Ptent 1 [1 1 3,726,577 Faulbecker 1 Apr. 10, 1973 [54]ROLLER BEARING, ESPECIALLY FOR 2,336,579 12/1943 Venditty et a1..308/212 THE BEARING OF THE STAR PIN OF A 2,488,848 11/1949 Carullo etal ....308/212 N-IVE INT 3,107,949 10/1963 Moskovitz ....308/212 U RSALJo I 3,423,958 1/1969 Koelhng ..308/2l6 [75] Inventor: Gerd Faulbecker,Essen-Steele,

Germany FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Assignea: Gelenkwenenbau EssenGreat Germany W W Primary ExaminerCharles J. Myhre [22] Flled' 1971Assistant ExaminerFrank Susko [21] Appl. No.: 116,468 Attorney-Curt M.Avery, Arthur E. Wilfond, Herbert L. Lerner and Daniel J. Tick [30]Foreign Application Priority Data 7 V s t 57 ABSTRA T Feb. 19,1970Germany. ..G 70 06 011.6 1 C ..s so.-. .7 W Roller bearing for a bearingsystem of journal pins in 52 US. Cl. ..308/212 universal joints having aP p SOlid bushing as 51 Int. Cl. ..F16c 33/34 an Outer pp for therollers of the bearing includes [58 Field of Search ..308/2l2 asheet-metal sleeve press-fitted in the solid g, the sleeve forming atthe inner surface thereof an [56] References Cited outer race for therollers, the sleeve having ends formed as guiding rims for the rollers.UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,036,978 4/1936 2 Claim 2 Drawing FiguresAnderson ..308/212 ROLLER BEARING, ESPECIALLY FOR THE BEARING OF THESTAR PIN OF A UNIVERSAL JOINT The invention relates to roller bearing,especially for the bearing system of journal or star pins of universaljoints wherein there is provided a pot-shaped solid bushing as an outersupport.

In a heretofore known bearing of this general type the outer race of theroller bearing is provided directly at the inner periphery of thebushing. The bushing must therefore be subjected to a costly heattreatment (not German Petty Patent 1,939,397). Furthermore, buttingfaces for axially supporting the rollers are provided at the bushing andmust have a fine surface finish.

It is an object of the invention to provide roller hearing, especiallyfor the bearing of the star pin of an universal joint which has the sameadvantages as the roller bearing of the heretofore known type thoughproduced at lower manufacturing cost.

It has been known heretofore to provide the outer race for the ring ofrollers of a needle bearing at the inner wall of a cylindrical sheetmetal sleeve which guides the ring of rollers axially on both sidesthereof at flanged butting rims. The sleeve proper is supported in asolid bearing casing. These features have the sole purpose in theheretofore known needle bearings of producing a complete built-in unitwhich can be manufactured and shipped independently of bearing pins orsleeves.

Although the objective sought by this construction for the heretoforeknown needle bearing differs from the objective sought to be achieved bythe invention of the instant application, use is made of theaforementioned solution for the objective with respect to needlebearing.

Consequently, there is provided in accordance with the invention, rollerbearing for a bearing system of journal pins in universal joints havinga pot-shaped solid bushing as an outer support for the rollers of thehearing, which comprises a sheet-metal sleeve pressfitted in the solidbushing, the sleeve forming at the inner surface thereof an outer racefor the rollers, the sleeve having ends formed as guiding rims for therollers.

With the combination of the solid pot-shaped bushing and the sheet-metalsleeve as carrier of the outer race for the rollers, the advantage isespecially obtained that costly machining operations such as polishingor grinding the lateral butting surfaces for the bearing rollers and theinsertion and hardening of the solid bushings are dispensed with. It isonly necessary to harden the sheet-metal sleeve, a process which can beeffected at substantially little cost when compared to the cost requiredfor heat-treating the solid bushing.

In accordance with yet another feature of the invention the sheet-metalsleeve has a nitrided surface produced by subjecting the same to anitriding bath, so that the sheet-metal sleeve has a slight depth ofhardening zone. Thereby the material of the sleeve remains elastic inthe core of the sleeve while the material at the surface has thehardness required for wear-resistant travel.

Furthermore, since the guiding rims for the rollers are inherentlyelastically resilient, they provide an adequate axial play for therollers thereby further dispensing with the need for an additionalspring member for axially biasing or bracing the rollers of the ring ofrollers.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the inventionare set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodiedin roller bearing, especially for the bearing of the star pin of auniversal joint,it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to thedetails shown, since various modifications and structural changes may bemade therein without departing from the spirit of the invention andwithin the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however,together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be bestunderstood from the following description of specific embodiments whenread in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of part of the fork of a universal joint witha journal pin and a bearing therefor inserted in the opening of one ofthe legs of the fork; and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view, partly in section, of FIG. 1with the fork omitted, showing the hearing and seal for the pin.

Referring now to the drawing and first particularly to FIG. 1 thereof,there is shown therein a universal joint having two forks l mutuallyoffset by 90, only one of the forks 1 being shown in the figure. Theforks l are connected in a conventional manner by a universal jointspider 2. In FIG. 1 only that end of the spider 2 which belongs to theopening of the upper leg of the fork l, as viewed in FIG. 1, is shown.As is also the case for the other three non-illustrated ends of thespider 2, the illustrated end thereof is formed as a journal pin 3received in the fork opening. The pin 3 forms the inner race for twofully rolling rings of rollers. i.e., a doublerow radial roller bearingthe outer race for the roller bearing 4 is formed by the innerperipheral surface of a drawn sheet-metal sleeve 5 formed withperipherally flanged ends 6 which retain the roller bearing 4 axially atboth sides thereof. The sheet-metal sleeve 5 is, in turn, supported bythe inner surface of a pot-shaped solid bushing 7 which is received inthe opening of the fork 1 and is secured against falling out by a Seegeor circlip lock ring 8.

The combination of the bushing 7 with the sheetmetal sleeve 5 formingthe outer race for the roller bearing 4 has the advantage that thebushing 7 need not be heat-treated and that the otherwise necessarylateral engagement surfaces along which the rollers of the rollerbearing 4 run need not be provided at the bushing 7 as was doneconventionally heretofore. It is only necessary that the sheet-metalsleeve 5 be nitrided whereby very slight depths of hardness areattainable and at substantially lower cost than would be required forheat-treating the solid bushing 7. Furthermore, an auxiliary springmember for biasing the rollers in axial direction thereof is dispensedwith because the peripherally flanged edges of the sheet-metal sleeve 5,

- due to the elasticity thereof, ensure the required axial the pin 3.The end engagement disc ensures a uniform supply of lubrication to theroller bearings which can be filled through a filling screw 11 in thebase of the bushing 7. Moreover, the end engagement disc 10 assures anaxial support of the pin 3 with very slight friction, since the recessesformed in the disc 10 serve as reservoirs for lubricant so that alubricant film is always present between both end faces of the end en-'gagement disc 10 and the respective adjacent surfaces of the bushingbase and of the pin 3.

A seal generally identified by the reference numeral 12 is providedbetween the foot of the pin 3 and the inner end of the solid bushing 7.The seal 12 includes a radial shaft sealing ring 13 having a sealing lip14 which is retained by a worm spring 15 in contact with a sealingsurface 16 formed at the pin}. The shaft sealing ring 13 is held at theouter periphery thereof by a sheet metal casing 17 which is, in turn,fitted in a recess at the inner end of the bushing 7. The sheet-metalcasing 17 has a free section 18 extending parallel to the axialdirection of the pin 3, and away. from the shaft seal 13 in directiontoward the center of the universal joint spider 2. The section 18 issurrounding with sealing play by a sheet-metal part 19 having asubstantially U- shaped cross section, the radially inner leg of the'Ubeing press-fitted on a ledge 20 in engagement with a shoulder 21 of theuniversal joint spider 2.

In this manner, a split seal 18, 19 is serially connected to the contactseal 13 and keeps dirt and dust away from the lip 14.

l claim:

1.'In a bearing system for journal pins of universal joints, acylindrical roller bearing comprising in combination a pot-shaped solidbushing of rigid construction, a sheet-metal sleeve press-fitted in saidsolid bushing, said sleeve forming an outer race of the roller bearingat the inner surface thereof, and a double row of end-to-end axiallyaligned cylindrical rollers received in said sleeve in rollingengagement with said outer race, said sleeve having ends formed asguiding rims for said rollers.

2. Roller bearing according to claim 1, wherein said sheet-metal sleevehas a nitrided surface with a slight depth of hardness zone.

1. In a bearing system for journal pins of universal joints, acylindrical roller bearing comprising in combination a pot-shaped solidbushing of rigid construction, a sheet-metal sleeve pressfitted in saidsolid bushing, said sleeve forming an outer race of the roller bearingat the inner surface thereof, and a double row of end-to-end axiallyaligned cylindrical rollers received in said sleeve in rollingengagement with said outer race, said sleeve having ends formed asguiding rims for said rollers.
 2. Roller bearing according to claim 1,wherein said sheet-metal sleeve has a nitrided surface with a slightdepth of hardness zone.